Ameraucana thread for posting pictures and discussing our birds

[heatherscooby77]

Are you actively working with other breeds and Ameraucanas to get this lacing?

Yes I am for a couple of years now.

 

[heatherscooby77]

So is this the type of lacing/coloring we are striving for in blue Ameraucana?

Yes, this is the standard for any breed, that has the variety blue. The SOP descriptions for color apply to all breeds.

 

[heatherscooby77]

I am not the only person working on this project Plus I am in the middle of trying to figure out what to do next. I will not be sharing project birds. It can come back to bite you. You need to be careful who you "give" your hard work to. I have a goal, and someone else can take that, and misrepresent the birds. Not saying any of you would. I just want to see it through more, before I share.

I am only using female birds that are crossed so far. I am thinking I am soon going to have to keep a male to breed back to, and then start culling, culling, culling. I figure 2-3 more years.

There is a man in NJ I think, he has Sumatras. He is way a head of me.

The blue Andy hen. Is she from a hatchery? The reason I ask, is because they will cross other breed in sometimes to increase egg production. So they could have used a recessive white bird, with columbian, or as suggested birchen in the background.

I will post pics as I go. That is usually in the fall.

 

[heatherscooby77]

This is a link to the Ameraucana Breeders forum. It talks about the project. Its worth a read.

http://ameraucana.org/forum/index.php?topic=1797.0

 

[MrsBachbach]

^^^^^^^^^^this is my goal^^^^^^^^^^^^ She is the best blue I have ever seen. IMO, LOL. This rooster even has awesome lacing on his leg feather!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe this??????

I like the rooster much better.

 

[MrsBachbach]

A neat way to tell the difference between edging and lacing is to take the feather in question and put it up against a white surface. The edging will be clear against the white and the lacing will be dark. The reason being true lacing results from more pigmentation along the outside of each feather (remember blue is just a dilution of black), while edging is thought to be the result of lack of pigmentation along the feathers outer edge. I thought that was pretty cool.

Have you tried it? Now you're making me want to go pick some feathers. My birds thank you.

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

I personally like the lacing on this one much better, but that is just my preference. The pair above's lacing make them look dark blue/black and white to me.

 

[MrsBachbach]

I like the body type more than the lacing. I agree with heatherscooby77. I think it might be a single copy of the pattern gene, but I am getting way over my head talking genetics! I might prefer to use her rather than a better laced bird for the body type though. You can double the Pg gene if that is what is needed, faster than you can get the size back I believe.....

I agree on the body type. After seeing some pics of mediterranian type, I don't want to mess with that. I haven't noticed it in my crosses, limited they may be. Tail is a bit long and I didn't like the pea comb, but she did appear to pick up some lacing or edging (now I don't know) despite the fact the blue male I used had little to none. I only got a few chicks from the F-1 blue I used and only one blue at that. Appears to be a male. Should I breed him back to his grandmother? I am curious whether he is carrying one blue egg gene or two.

 

[MrsBachbach]

I am not the only person working on this project   Plus I am in the middle of trying to figure out what to do next.  I will not be sharing project birds.  It can come back to bite you.  You need to be careful who you "give" your hard work to.  I have a goal, and someone else can take that, and misrepresent the birds.  Not saying any of you would.  I just want to see it through more, before I share.

I am only using female birds that are crossed so far.  I am thinking I am soon going to have to keep a male to breed back to, and then start culling, culling, culling.  I figure 2-3 more years.

There is a man in NJ I think, he has Sumatras.  He is way a head of me.

The blue Andy hen.  Is she from a hatchery?  The reason I ask, is because they will cross other breed in sometimes to increase egg production.  So they could have used a recessive white bird, with columbian, or as suggested birchen in the background.

I will post pics as I go.  That is usually in the fall.

Are you asking me? No. Not a hatchery bird. I picked her up as a youngster from a guy who obtained his birds from a respected breeder in my state. I had two to start with, but the other (that actually had better lacing) developed what I believe was roachback, so I couldn't use her. So my project has been very, very limited. Space was going to be a problem for me anyway, but I decided to fiddle around with what I had. I used my one good blue male. If I want to start a seperate line, I'm going to have to wait until I grow out another unrelated blue male. What's your thinking on using a splash male to cross with?

 

[MrsBachbach]

I personally like the lacing on this one much better, but that is just my preference. The pair above's lacing make them look dark blue/black and white to me.

Very nice. I really do love my Andulasian. *sigh* If I only had the room. She is a wonderful bird and I actually saw her perched on a rock watching out for the flock the other day! She isn't flighty or mean, but they are more vocal.